The present invention relates to blister packs for pharmaceuticals having a base with a plurality of recesses that are surrounded by a shoulder and a lid foil attached to the shoulder, where removable contents are accommodated in the recesses and may be removed therefrom by pressing on the recess in question making the contents penetrate the lid foil, or by removing the lid foil over the recess, and where the blister pack features a moveable lid that covers the recess, and the lid is arranged such that it can slide over the lid foil.
It is known to fill the bases of blister packs, in particular push-through packs, with contents, to cover the whole of base with a lid material, and to seal the lid material in place. The blister pack is characterized by way of a single or, in particular, by a plurality of single compartments that accommodate e.g. solid items, shaped solid preparations or pharmaceutical products such as tablets or dragees. If a single item e.g. a tablet is to be removed from a blister pack, the recess in the base is pressed in and the tablet is pushed through the lid material.
The present invention embraces various kinds of blister packs. This includes e.g. the so-called push-through packs. Push-through packs are e.g. such that the lid material is of aluminum foil or an aluminum foil laminate. Aluminum foil is a preferred material for the lids on blister packs as the thickness of the material employed requires relatively little force for it to rupture. Consequently, the energy for penetration is low and the aluminum exhibits essentially no elasticity. As a rule the base of the blister pack is made of plastic, for example plastics such as PVC, polyamides, polyolefins, polyesters and laminates or multi-layered materials containing at least one of these materials and, if desired, also containing an aluminum foil. Other blister packs feature a base which is covered by a lid foil. The lid foil may cover the whole of the base area and is usefully provided with a line of weakness in the region of each recess, or each recess may be covered with an individual lid segment. Within the line of weakness or on each lid segment may be a tab for gripping which enables the individual recess to be exposed by peeling back the lid segment. As a rule, the base and the lid are of the above mentioned materials, whereby plastic laminates may also be employed for the lid materials.
Such blister packs have found widespread use in the field of health care and for distribution of sweets such as pastilles and bonbons. Because of the possibility they offer to store sensitive contents carefully, and because of the ease with which the contents can be removed from them, such blister packs are now regarded as indispensable in daily life. With increasing endeavors being made to cut costs in health care, attempts are being made to keep the blister packs as small as possible and to limit the number of different formulations. This can mean that a pharmaceutical formulation is produced at only one concentration level and it may happen that not one whole tablet or dragee has to be taken but, e.g. according to the weight or stage of the illness of a patient, only a partial dose e.g. half of a tablet or a dragee has to be administered. It is also conceivable for one recess to accommodate two or more tablets, dragees, capsules, ampoules and the like and for only a fraction of the contents to be consumed at a given time. Returning e.g. the rest of a tablet divided into two parts to the recess is not straightforward in the case of the normal blister packs, and the recess can not be closed off again as the lid material over the recess has been torn, burst or peeled off.